Wander
by Misty Reeyus
Summary: Dad has been gone for a long time. Mom worries. Yuri x Estelle.


**Wander**

When Brave Vesperia came to pick Yuri up in the fields outside Halure, Yuri bid Estelle goodbye with a sweet kiss, a gentle rub to her baby bump, and a sly wink. "You both take care of yourselves. I'll see you in two weeks," he said, and Estelle watched him hop onto the Fiertia and fly off and she kept watching until Ba'ul was too far away to be visible anymore.

When four weeks passed and Yuri still wasn't home, nor had she received any word from him or anyone else in Brave Vesperia, Estelle started to worry.

She knew rationally that she shouldn't get ahead of herself. It was perfectly possible that the monster extermination job was just taking longer than expected, and though Yuri would have sent her a letter if that was the case, it was also possible that the mail was just delayed. Both had happened on occasion before. So Estelle shouldn't jump to conclusions, but even so, she couldn't help but feel a little scared. Personal experience had taught her that some monsters could be incredibly tough, and even with how strong she and her friends all were, they would always be in harm's way.

Estelle now regretted that she hadn't chosen to go along with the others. Yuri would never have let her anywhere near a battle while she was pregnant, but at the very least, she could have been there to help heal them after they had won.

Then fear gripped at her heart as she was suddenly struck with the absolute worst possibility: what if Yuri and the others _hadn't_ won? What if they hadn't come back yet because they weren't going to come back _ever_, because they had fallen in battle and perished? It was unlikely but Estelle couldn't say it was impossible and in a frightful panic, she found herself clutching at her abdomen.

How would she be able to deal with their child if that was the case? It would be nightmare enough to lose her friends for good, to lose _Yuri_ for good, and his fall from Zaude years ago had driven that home harder than anything. But to have to raise this baby, _their_ baby, by herself…how would she deal with that? How would she be able to so much as look at the child without feeling some sort of grief? How would she be able to talk to her child someday about why and how he or she didn't have a father—

Estelle abruptly shook her head, willing the horrible thoughts away. No, she didn't know anything for certain and it was no use to get so anxious over depressing speculation. It was morbid and it was stupid that she'd even thought about it in the first place and she didn't want to think about it ever again.

Estelle _believed_ in Brave Vesperia, she trusted them to pull through no matter what, and Yuri definitely wouldn't die so easily. Especially not when their baby was waiting for him.

So when four weeks turned to five and a knock at her second-story bedroom window got Estelle whirling to see Yuri grinning cheekily and waving at her from behind the pane, not even twenty extra pounds of baby bump could weigh her down.

"You are _late_!" Estelle shrieked, partly in reprimand but mostly in elation as she swiftly opened the window and let Yuri hop in. Before he could even take two steps, Estelle was on him, throwing her arms around him in excitement and relief. "Just what were you doing for so long?!"

"Heh. Sorry about that," Yuri chuckled, returning the embrace just as enthusiastically. "It's a long story, but we ended up having to take an unexpected side trip to Weccea. I would have written you but they don't exactly have mail service there."

It was nice to have an explanation but in the end Estelle didn't really care, because as long as Yuri was okay, nothing else mattered. And as she hugged Yuri even tighter in glee, the baby suddenly seemed to awaken, for it began to kick, fiercely and repeatedly against the both of them.

"Hey, hey, easy there tiger." Yuri pulled back, laughing as he glared playfully down at her large stomach, which was still bouncing with each kick. "That almost hurt."

Estelle huffed. "It's what you get for making us worry."

And with that, she curled an arm around his neck, yanked him down, and enacted her own revenge by kissing him hard enough to bruise.


End file.
